Erin Gee

Erin Elizabeth Gee (born 1974) (born San Luis Obispo, California) is an American composer and vocalist. Among the fellowships she has held are the Guggenheim and the Radcliffe Institute Fellowships, and among the awards she has won for her compositions are the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Rome Prize and the first prize of the International Rostrum of Composers. She was on the faculty of the University of Illinois in Urbana as Assistant Professor of Composition-Theory and is currently Associate Professor of Composition at Brandeis University.

Education In 1997 Gee received her B.M. with honors and highest distinction in Piano Performance from the University of Iowa; there she also earned an M.A. in composition in 2002. In 2007, she earned her Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts, Graz, Austria where she studied musical composition with Beat Furrer.

Career With her brother Colin Gee, she performed at the Whitney Museum of Art In 2015, she received the Charles Ives Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The puzzle video game app Blek contains excerpts of Erin Gee's work. Gee is one of the Kronos Quartet 50 for the Future composers.

A reviewer from the Harvard Gazette described a performance of Gee's work as "a young woman with a microphone in each hand performing a curious and captivating symphony of sound and song".

Selected works

Premiered by Ryan Muncy and Ross Karre at the Abrons Art Center in Brooklyn, NY.2015Mouthpiece XXICommissioned by Musikprotokoll, Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria

Premiered by the Arditti Quartet

Performed by the JACK Quartet at the Lucerne Festival, Switzerland, the Banff Centre, Canada (2017) 2014Mouthpiece XIXCommissioned by the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna Austria

Conducted by Cornelius Meister

Erin Gee, voice

Colin Gee, actor/dramaturge

Premiered by the Ascolta Ensemble at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.2012Mouthpiece XIVCommissioned by the Iowa Piano Teacher’s Association. Written for and premiered by Réne Lecuona.2010Mouthpiece XIIICommissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and LVMH. Premiered at Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York City.

Erin Gee, voice

Colin Gee, Actor and Dramaturge 2009Mouthpiece XIIPremiered by Repertorio Zero at the Konzerthaus Zürich in the Tage für Neue Musik, Zürich. Erin Gee, voice 2009Mouthpiece XICommissioned by the LA Philharmonic New Music Group Premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

Erin Gee, voice 2009SLEEP: an operaPremiered at the Zurich Opera House, 2009. Erin Gee, voice.

Morgan Moody, Bass Baritone

Erin Gee, voice

CD Released on Col Legno 20142008Mouthpiece: Segment of the 4th LetterPremiered by Ensemble Recherche Gianni Bergamo Prize (1st Round)2007Mouthpiece IXCommissioned by Musik Protokoll, Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria and the Klangspuren Festival.

Premiered at the Klangspuren Festival by the RSO Wien. Erin Gee, voice. Martyn Brabbins, conductor.

Awarded the Rostrum of Composers Prize, Paris, France – 2007

Premiered at the ORF Vienna, Austria. Erin Gee, voice2006Yamaguchi MouthpiecesPremiered at the Akiyoshidai International Art Viliage. Erin Gee, voice

Look and Listen Festival Prize, New York City 2005Mouthpiece VIIPremiered by Klangforum Wien

Discography

Work(s) Label/Performer/CD YearA Howl, That Was Also A Prayer

Selected awards and grants 2022 Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2019 Koussevitsky Award 2017 Fromm Foundation Commission 2015 American Academy of Arts and Letters, Charles Ives Fellowship Recipient (Charles Ives Prize) 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York City. 2007 Rome Prize, The American Academy in Rome, Italy. 2007 International Rostrum of Composers “Selected Piece” (First Prize), Paris, France. 2007 Teatro Minimo Prize (first round), Zurich Opera House